Elaine Kaugh

Elaine is a professional pilot, Master Instructor, aviation writer and an active speaker at safety seminars, where she enjoys meeting pilots to talk about all things flying. As a skilled instrument instructor, she specializes in emergency procedures while helping aviators sharpen their skills. Her other specialties include tailwheel, CFI stall-spin and high-performance endorsements.

Bret Koebbe

As Sporty’s lead aviation course and video producer, Bret is usually flying an interesting airplane, and often with a camera rolling. He oversees the development, production and distribution of over 30 aviation courses from Sporty’s, including the Private Pilot Learn to Fly Course. He is a senior flight instructor and check airman at the Sporty’s Academy flight school.

James Onieal

James Onieal is an ATP-certified pilot and instructor with type ratings in the King Air 350, Citation Sovereign, and Embraer 170/190. His aviation career spans Part 91, 135, and 121 operations, including roles as regional airline first officer, fractional jet pilot, Director of Operations, FAA Aviation Safety Inspector, and Flight Check pilot certifying instrument procedures across the United States.

In 2010, James founded Raven Career Development to help aviation professionals advance their careers. Since then, Raven has helped hundreds of pilots across airline, corporate, charter, and military sectors land the positions they wanted. 🛬 Learn more at RavenCareers.com.

Eric Radtke

It was his first airplane trip at age seven that made Eric decide to become a pilot. “While boarding the airplane, a flight attendant noticed my interest in the flight deck and urged me to go talk to the pilot. I give a lot of credit to that pilot for my career choice.” Eric earned a bachelor’s degree in finance and went on to an airline career. He learned to fly at Sporty’s as part of the University of Cincinnati’s Professional Pilot Program, an initiative he later directed. Eric is an ATP and Flight Instructor and manages Sporty’s media network including IFRFocus.com. In addition, Eric serves as a Captain in a Cincinnati-based corporate flight department.

Lee Smith

Lee Smith is an ATP-rated pilot, flight instructor, and software engineer in Maryland who enjoys bridging the gap between flight operations and technology. With a background in corporate aviation and over a decade of experience supporting flight procedure design and analysis, he brings both cockpit experience and engineering insights to complex IFR topics. Lee’s work has appeared in IFR Magazine, IFR Refresher, Aviation Safety, and AOPA.

Jeff Van West

Jeff Van West is PilotWorkshops’ Creative Director with the primary responsibility for managing the development and creation of the company’s pilot proficiency training programs, including its flagship IFR and VFR Mastery programs.

For 19 years, Jeff ran many noteworthy aviation media projects with his own firm, Van West Communications, including magazines, books, videos and live seminars. Jeff previously served as editor-in-chief of IFR Magazine and co-editor of Aviation Consumer, and his work appears in AOPA Pilot, Flight Training Magazine, Plane and Pilot, and AVweb. He’s an experienced CFII/MEI with ratings for single- and multi-engine airplanes, seaplanes, and gliders. Jeff was the creator of the first pilot transition program for new Cirrus aircraft.

John Zimmerman

Coming from an aviation family, John grew up in the back of small airplanes and learned to fly as a teenager. Ever since, he has been hooked on anything with wings and regularly flies a Citabria, a Pilatus PC-12, and a Cirrus SR22. He is an ATP and also holds ratings for multiengine, seaplanes, gliders, and helicopters. In addition to being a contributing author at IFR Focus and Editor-in-Chief of Air Facts, John is the President & CEO of Sporty’s.